After the long bus ride to Lake Quilotoa, we voted to splurge and take a taxi from Quito to our next Ecuadorian destination of Mindo. Mindo was a small town in the middle of a beautiful valley. It is known for having one of the greatest variety of bird populations in the world. Colombia and Ecuador are number one and two in the world for the largest percentage of bird species. Due to its’ size, Mindo’s hotel offerings were hostals. Never having stayed in a hostal before, I was careful to find one with a private room and our own bathroom. We were greeted in the “common room” by a young man in his twenties who was staying in Mindo “long term” while working on his graduate degree. Tough times these young ones have in college! We were pleasantly surprised that he was not as “hippy” as we first thought and he was very helpful with telling us all about Mindo. When we met his girlfriend, she had graduated from University of Georgia so we had a good laugh that three UGA graduates were all staying in the same hostal in the middle of boondock Ecuador at the same time. Small world! Mindo had that small town feel where everyone knew everyone and the people were very friendly. They were especially patient with our Spanglish so we got around quite well. In Mindo, lunches included a huge bowl of soup, chicken or pork, rice with beans and plantains for $3.50. Taxi rides averaged around $5.00 and a huge beer was $1.00. Our first day out we headed over to the Tarabita cable car to hike the waterfall trail. The cable car was definitely not for those with fear of heights…or fear of flimsy contraptions….or fear of death. At first, the worker tried to put us on the cable car (see picture below) with four other people. We politely declined and waited for the next trip. Contrary to its’ appearance, the cable car functioned well and we careened happily across the gorge to find the waterfall trails. While the trails were steep in places, the overall waterfall hike was not difficult and we were pleasantly surprised with the size of the falls. Bill was the master bird hunter and we spotted quite a few hummingbirds along our trek. As our reward for a long hike, we went to dinner at “Le Chef” which was known for its “steak on a stone”. Bill ordered the steak on a stone and a huge slab of beef came out on a sizzling rock….an 8 ounce steak for only $12.00! The next morning, we arose early to give bird watching a try. According to the locals, the birds “come out from 6am to 10am”. We did not make the 6am call but we headed out at 7am with croissants and camera in hand. The main bird trail in town was run by some genius woman who owned a lot of land. She figured out that if you make a map of the trails then you can charge people $6.00 each for the map and to pass through the gate. Genius! Our main goal was to spot a toucan. On our bird walk, we spotted a species of small yellow bird that loved to pose, a donkey, cows and a horse. Bill spotted other birds and I have several lovely pictures of empty tree branches as they flew away from me….fast little buggers! By the time we returned from our non-bird bird adventure, we were starving so we thoroughly enjoyed our $3.50 lunch! The best part of lunch was the mechanic next door who rocked out the entire time to AC/DC greatest hits. Finally! Some good rock music! When we returned to the hostal for a rest, a new hippy appeared to check out our hostal and this one was as expected. He questioned us about our retirement and asked did we not feel the need to “contribute to society” to which Bill responded, “We contributed 30 years. I think that’s enough.” The guy then asked me how much I was paying for our room so I told him $30.00 a night and I added, “But ours is a private room with a private bath. We’re too old to share.” The guy laughed and said, “The privilege of age and money, I guess,” to which I replied, “You betcha!” I suppose our hostal was too rich for his wallet so he headed on out and left us in peace. We ran into him later while he was attempting to drive a 4 wheeler around town…”Come on the 4 wheeler with me, man! It’ll be so fun!” Bill simply shook his head and we waved goodbye as the fellow swerved down the road never to be seen again. Our next sky venture was to ride the chairlift up one of the mountains. Once again, the toucans eluded us even in the treetops but the ride was quiet and the views were stunning. Since we did not have much luck with bird watching in the wild, we headed to the butterfly and hummingbird garden in town. I finally captured a few good pictures of both so we felt the day had gone well. We decided to take the bus back to Quito instead of a taxi. The bus ride was around $4.00 and the bus was a large one that said “climate controlled” on the window so we climbed aboard. It was definitely climate controlled….whatever the temperature was outside, the bus temperature was about 10 degrees warmer. The driver did not run the vents and the only relief was when we stopped to let someone out to go to the bathroom. Luckily, it was only a two hour ride so short suffering. We sat in front of a couple from Seattle and we asked them about their trip to Mindo. They responded they had been in Mindo for 10 days. Ten days!?! As beautiful as Mindo was, our three day trip was pushing the town’s entertainment limits. I asked, “How did you entertain yourself for ten days in Mindo?” They responded, “We’re birders,”….as if that was supposed to explain anything to me. I guess my quizzical look prompted them to provide more information…. Them: “We would go out at 5am every morning and stay out until after dusk. That way, we could see the birds.” Me: “You went birding for 13 hours a day? For 10 days?” Them: “Yes! It was amazing!” Me: “I am guessing y’all met doing some birding activity? No way you would just magically find a partner who loved to look at birds this much, right?” Them: “Yes! We met while birding at a sewage treatment plant. Birds love sewage treatment plants” And thus ended my conversation and my education about birding. Join us next week for our stay in Cuenca and the answer to the burning question, “Did they or did they not eat cuy?” ***More pics on Pictures tab
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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